


Talk it out!

by Dreamlover83



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-27 19:24:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8413684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamlover83/pseuds/Dreamlover83
Summary: Set in S4. Written because of a Tumblr prompt. 
Dembe has had enough of the way Red and Liz treat each other so he comes up with a plan to make them talk.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Lizzington fanfic. Agnes is not back with Liz yet, Tom isn't in the picture anymore and Red hasn't shot Mr. Kaplan.

Dembe was driving the car in silence through the dimly lit streets. It was very early and still a bit dark outside. Red and Liz were sitting in the back of the black Mercedes, both looking out of their windows, also in silence. Dembe looked in the rear-view mirror, trying to make eye contact with Red, but Red was avoiding Dembe’s stare on purpose. Dembe noticed the huge space between the two of them and shook his head so slightly it was barely noticeable.

Red knew all too well that Dembe had had enough of the whole situation they were in. He also knew that his brother disapproved of the way he was treating Liz but he just couldn’t help it.

After what Liz had put him through, first with wanting to remarry Tom and then faking her own death, he couldn’t just get past that and pretend nothing had happened.

Red let out a deep sigh. His eyes for the first time actually taking in what they were seeing, while looking out of the window. He had just been staring blindly, sunken deep within his own thoughts, but now he noticed that they weren’t going where they were supposed to go, which was a warehouse just out of town, to meet an associate. They were driving towards some warehouses, but not the one in which they were supposed to meet.

“Dembe, where are we going?” Red asked, softly but sternly. 

“A different warehouse. The other one was being watched”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I got the phone call only seconds before leaving. The warehouse we’re going to now will be a secure location”

Red looked at the back of Dembe’s head suspiciously. Why hadn’t he told him that the location had changed? He frowned but had no time to say anything else, because the car had already come to a stop.

They got out and Red looked around. He recognised the location and felt himself relax a little. Nothing wrong with being too careful I guess, he thought, before putting on his fedora and walking over to the steel door. He let Dembe open it and have a look inside first before actually setting foot inside himself. He held the door open for Liz and walked in after her. They still hadn’t exchanged a word since getting into the car over half an hour ago.

“Dembe, where’s Antonio?” Red asked, walking over to his best friend.

Dembe walked backwards towards the door “He isn’t here. There’s no one here, Raymond”

Red raised his eyebrows, looking at him questioningly, demanding an explanation.  
“I am tired of the way you two treat each other and you need to talk. It’s long overdue”, he said, trying to explain his actions as he opened the door, “I will be outside” and with that he closed the door behind him.

He heard Red call his name and after a few moments he heard Red bang his fists on the door, telling him to let them out. 

Dembe knew all too well that this could turn badly for him if Red wanted to, but he felt like he needed to do something and that’s why he’d come up with this plan. The two of them drove him mad and he was fed up with it.

“Dembe! I know you can hear me. Let us out, now!”

“Not until you’ve talked!” Dembe shouted through the door.

He backed away and leant against the hood of the car. It took a few more shouts and bangs on the door before Red went quiet. Dembe smiled to himself. This was a small victory. Now let’s see what happens next, he thought.

 

Red and Liz were standing inside a big space with no way out but the door Dembe had just locked behind them. They saw two chairs and a table with some food and beverages on it and an old sofa against one of the walls.

“I can’t believe he just did that”, Liz whispered, not at all in the mood to talk to Reddington. Deep down she knew they needed to talk, but she’d wanted to wait until everything had calmed down, when she had Agnes back and her life back on track.

She heard Red curse under his breath and looked at him for the first time after getting on the road. He looked stressed and angry, although he had looked like that most of the time lately, she concluded sadly. She felt a stabbing pain in her heart, knowing that she was the cause of it all.

 

She went to sit down on one of the chairs, her arms folded across her chest. Why the hell would Dembe do this? This wasn’t going to work, was it? They obviously didn’t want to talk but now that they were here, they might as well. 

She watched Red pace back and forth in front of the door, a frown on his face and his eyes fixed on the floor. He was probably thinking of a way out, Liz thought sadly.

She tried to get her heartbeat to slow down. She rarely felt nervous around Red anymore, but since their reunion, their relationship had been strained. Her faking her own death had changed the bond between them that they’d so carefully built up over the years. A bond that Liz desperately wanted back.

She cleared her throat “Ehh. Red, why don’t you sit down?”

Red kept on pacing like he hadn’t even heard her, so she tried again.

“Red, please, can you…”

“I heard you the first time!” Red snapped at her, lifting his gaze to meet her eyes. His eyes were dark and dangerous and Liz held her breath instinctively, nervous about what his next action would be.

But there wasn’t any. He just stood there, looking at her for a long moment before looking back at the floor again. 

Well, at least he’d stopped pacing, Liz thought, slowly letting out the breath she’d been holding. Her mind was racing, trying to think what to do or what to say that would make him come and sit down to talk.

Just when she’d opened her mouth to ask him again to sit down, he slowly started to walk towards the other chair across the table from Liz and took a seat.

Liz sighed heavily again “Look, I know this is not the way it should happen, but now that we’re here we might as well talk, right?”

Red just sat there, his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers entwined, almost like he was praying. He was trying to calm down because with the fury he felt inside it would be impossible not to scream at Liz. He knew they should talk but it was so damn hard for him. Even just looking at her felt like he was being torn into little pieces.

He shakily took a deep breath before saying, “Fine, what do you want to talk about?” He just wanted to see what she would say. In the meantime, he would have just a little more time to think about how to say all the things he had on his mind.

“Well, I want to start by apologizing... I’m so sorry, Red. I never meant for this to happen”

Red had intended for Liz to tell her story before he would jump in but hearing her say this made him mad as hell and he leapt out of his chair so fast that it fell backwards and landed on the floor with a loud bang that echoed through the open space.

“You’re sorry? Really?” he laughed out sarcastically, mocking the words Liz had just said, “You never meant for this to happen? Well, that’s not quite right, is it? You never meant for me to find out! You wished you and Tom had succeeded with your conniving little plan and were now living happily ever after in Cuba!” he spat.

Liz sat there, staring open mouthed at Red, listening to him spilling these words. She’d seen him angry before but never like this. She wanted to say something but decided against it when she saw that Red wasn’t anywhere near done.

“Well, now that Tom is gone it’s easy for you to say that you’re sorry” he sniffed, glad that that bastard was finally out of their lives, “But you wouldn’t be saying that if you were sunbathing in the Cuban sun right now”

“Have you even thought once of what this might do to me? Or to your colleagues and friends? How this would affect all of us? I doubt it! And then to drag Mr. Kaplan into this on top of it all! To turn one of my closest partners and dearest friends who’s been with me for decades, against me!”

Red was fuming now and was pacing again, only this time in front of the table and at times he would look directly into Liz’s eyes to emphasize his words.

Liz could tell that underneath his anger he was hurting and it made her tear up. She knew he was right, that she had been selfish. Even though she’d done it all for Agnes, she should’ve known better than to run off with Tom. She should’ve run towards Reddington instead of away from him. But it was done and all she could do now was to try and fix things between the two of them.

Red continued, “How can I ever trust that woman again? She lied to me, watched me suffer and never even said a word!”

“It’s not her fault, I asked her for help” Liz finally said something. She felt she owed it to Mr. Kaplan to defend her and try to make Red see that she can still be trusted and can still work for him, “She did it for Agnes”

Red had stopped pacing and looked at her, “She should’ve known better. She should’ve known that I was the one protecting you instead of endangering you. Of course my life and business is dangerous but you forget that you’re in danger just because of who you are as well!”

Liz looked at her hands. They were sweaty and hot and she wiped them on her jeans. “I just don’t want you to be angry with her, it’s not her fault” Liz whispered.

She looked up and saw Red swallow hard. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking right now; he was hard to read these days. He was staring at the table, next to where Lizzie had just put her hands.

“I don’t know if I can ever trust her again. She’s like a stranger to me now” Red said, calmer now, but still with anger and disappointment in his voice.

“It will take time, but she deserves your forgiveness, Red. Much more so than me” Liz said softly, desperately wanting to clear Mr. Kaplan’s name.

Red walked back to the chair, picked it up from the floor and sat back down. He leaned over and put his head in his hands.

After a few minutes of complete silence where you could’ve heard a pin drop, Liz decided she wanted to get something off her chest as well.

“You know what, you’re not the only one who’s angry here. All the times that you hid the truth from me and lied to me. Saying that my father was dead and hey, look at that, he miraculously turns up!”

Red slowly looked up and looked at her, desperation and slight annoyance in his eyes, “I’ve never lied to you, Elizabeth”

“Then how do you explain all this, huh? You keep saying that Kirk isn’t my father but I have memories of him and now I have a DNA test to prove it as well”

“The fact that he was married to your mother doesn’t make him your father. And a test is easily manipulated, you know that. It just boggles my mind that you’re so willing to believe Kirk’s lies”

“It’s all I’ve got, Reddington! At least he’s willing to tell me things and tell me about my mother. He has answers for me. Something you’re never willing to give me”

“I give you answers, but all in good time. Besides, a lot of the things you want to know are actually dangerous for you to know. The less you know, the better”

“You always have your answer ready, don’t you?” Liz said.

“Just believe me. Even if it’s only this once. Be careful with Kirk, because he’s not who you think he is”

Liz stared at him intently, trying to see if she could catch him lying but she couldn’t. Maybe he was telling the truth? But what would that mean? Who was Kirk then? She wanted to stay angry with Red but she just couldn’t. When she looked at him all she saw was a broken man who needed to be taken care of. If Liz were honest, she would gladly take that upon herself.

Red had gone quiet. He had put his head back into his hands and this time he had his eyes closed.

Liz had been afraid that this would happen, that Red would open up but only for a moment before shutting down again. No, she thought, they needed to talk it out. Now.

“Red?”

She looked at him but he didn’t react. All she could see him do was breathe heavily and sitting with his head in his hands. He had taken his fedora off and she looked at it, lying on the table next to the food. Oh, how she loved those fedoras. She looked back at the shorn head between two beautiful hands and sighed.

“Red, please, don’t stop now. We need to….”

Before she could finish her sentence he said, “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through? I can’t even put into words how I felt after you died…”  
He still hadn’t moved and his voice was now not more than a whisper.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought it would be 2 chapters but after reading the comments I decided to make it 3 chapters....

Liz didn’t know what to say. Was he finally going to tell her how he had felt? What he had been through? To be honest he’d been spot on when he’d said earlier that she’d been so selfish that she never even thought about what she had done to her colleagues and to Reddington. 

She obviously knew that it had affected her colleagues. They had told her so or shown her that they were angry and disappointed, but it seemed that they had moved on. Reddington, on the other hand, still seemed very much affected and now was as good a moment as any to find out why.

After a long silence, Red took a deep breath “After saying…” he cleared his throat, “After saying my goodbyes to you in the ambulance, I…. collapsed”  
He swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears at bay that he felt pooling in his eyes at the memory of the loss he had felt.

“I don’t really remember much after that because it all happened in a daze. I went to an opium den and I spent a couple of days there”

Liz eyes grew big. An opium den? She tried to picture Red under the influence of drugs but had a hard time doing so. She only knew this man to be strong and in control.

“I just didn’t want…. to feel. After a few days I left and went to an old house, close to the beach” Red decided not to bother her with the hallucinations he’d had but to keep those to himself.

“I eh…..” he stopped, not sure how to tell her this and even if he should tell her this. His mouth and throat had gone dry, so he got up and poured himself a glass of water that was on the table. He cursed Dembe for not having any scotch or other alcoholic drinks there. He could’ve used a good scotch right now.

He emptied the glass, refilled it and slowly made his way over to the couch. Those chairs were terrible to sit on and the couch looked nice and comfy.

He sat down and was now across the room from Liz, who wasn’t sure whether to follow him to the couch or not. She decided she should, as the distance between them wasn’t making it any easier to talk. She got up and poured herself a juice before making her way over and sitting on the other end of the couch.

After another long silence, Red continued, “I was in a terrible state of mind. So bad that I….” he could barely bring himself to say it “…I almost…. ended it”

Liz looked at him in shock. Did he just tell her he had almost committed suicide? Why the hell would he do that? She knew he loved her, but that much? She looked at his hands holding the glass of water and saw they were shaking. He was frowning and was taking deep breaths through his mouth, his eyes fixed on the water. Her instinct told her to sit closer and hold him but she didn’t. She had no idea if he even wanted her close right now.

When he didn’t say anything else she decided to ask “Why? Why would you even consider killing yourself?”

Red thought about what to say to this. How would she react if he told her the truth? If he bluntly told her how much he loved her; how much she meant to him; how much he needed her? What would happen if he did? 

He had no idea how she felt about him. There had been times that he’d had a bit of hope that she loved him back. Times where she would show affection or would say something sweet. But most of the time she was cold and distant to him, calling him all sorts of names, anything but endearing. No, he was better off not telling her the real reason, although he would have to come up with some other reason.

Red had been so deep within his thoughts, that he never even noticed Liz getting up from her spot and sitting next to him, until he could actually feel the heat radiating from her body and warming his right side.

She reached over and took one of his hands in hers. It felt cold and shaky and she clasped his hand between hers in an attempt to warm it. She caressed the top of his hand, running her fingers through the soft blond hairs he had there. 

Liz had no idea if what she was doing was a smart thing to do, but she felt it was the right thing to do. Red hadn’t answered her question yet, but she had an idea of what it could be. 

“Red, please answer me. Why did you want to kill yourself?”

Red looked at his hand that was clasped between Liz’s and relished the feeling of her fingers stroking the top of it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A million thoughts were racing through his mind and he had no idea what to do at his point. All he knew was that it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell Liz about his feelings.

So instead of telling her, he got up and walked over to the table. He needed to clear his head and had no idea how. He thought about walking back to the door and asking Dembe to let them out but something stopped him. And he knew exactly what. His love for her.

Liz sat on the couch, not sure what to do next. She didn’t expect Reddington to get up and walk away. Was it because she’d taken his hand into hers? Was it too soon? She slowly got up and took a few steps in Red’s direction but left enough space between them.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to” she said, not wanting to pressure him.

“I was expecting that I didn’t need to tell you…. that what I said was an explanation on its own” Red replied, just loud enough for Liz to hear.  
Liz frowned, not sure what that meant. Red looked over his shoulder and saw the quizzical look on Liz’s face. Gosh, how blind she could be sometimes, he thought, thinking that he’d presented her the answer on a silver platter already. 

“You really don’t get it, do you?” he asked her, while going through the food on the table. He wasn’t hungry at all but he just needed to keep himself busy.

“Well, not really. I mean, I get it that you felt that you lost me but that’s no reason to kill yourself”

He sighed heavily “It is if that person is the only thing you live for”

Red turned and walked back towards the couch without looking at Liz. He just couldn’t right now because he felt that confessing this might drive her even further away. He just didn’t care at this point because she’d been behaving like she hated him anyway.

Liz just stood there, frozen. Unable to move or speak. What Red had just told her was a huge confession. She stared at him as he took his seat on the couch again, grunting slightly as he sat down.

The man that she had feelings for had just told her she’s the only thing he lives for. She needed a moment to process this and walked over to the table and poured herself another juice and took a bite out of a croissant.

So all this time he had loved her. Really loved her. She’d been blocking her feelings for him for a long time now. Knowing who he was and what he did made her take a step back. Also the fact that she felt that she was too young and inexperienced for him. She’d been sure that his flirting was just that and nothing more so there had been plenty of reasons for her to keep their relationship a professional one.

She turned to look at him and he had his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. Liz knew he probably regretted telling her this. She needed to tell him that she felt the same way. Although there was always this little voice in her head that told her not to trust him. If only he could put her mind at ease and tell her things she wanted to know.

“Okay, I… I get that you love me…” she started, “But why? What is our connection? Why did you come into my life?”

She started walking towards the sofa slowly “I just want some answers, Red. Don’t you think I deserve that?”

Red looked up at her as she slowly walked over to him. 

“See, the thing is… I love you too” 

Now it was Red’s turn to be shocked. His jaw dropped as he watched her getting closer.

“Now, the only problem is, that I still have a hard time trusting you sometimes. You say you’ve never lied to me but I can’t get rid of this feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me. My love for you gets side tracked by the feeling that I can’t completely trust you”

She was now standing in front of Red. He looked up at her and tilted his head. 

“I don’t know what it is that you want from me”

“I know you knew my parents. I know you were there the night of the fire. What exactly happened? What did you do?”

Red kept looking up at her before averting his gaze and staring at his hands that were resting in his lap.

Should he tell her about his role that night? He had tried so hard to keep it from her because he didn’t want her to feel bad about it or feel sorry for him. That was the last thing he wanted for something he had done over 25 years ago.

Well, he thought, since we’re on the sharing path…. and he started to unbutton his vest and next his dress shirt.

Red still hadn’t said a word but suddenly started to undress. Liz raised her eyebrows and took a step back from the couch. What the hell was happening? 

“Errr, Red?” Liz asked carefully, when he took off his vest, tie and dress shirt and stood up from the couch so he was standing before her now.

“You wanted to know”, he said softly, before taking off the white t-shirt he was wearing. 

Liz stood there watching his every move. If she hadn’t been so nervous about what was to come, she would’ve found Reddington’s little striptease quite erotic.

He looked at her intently before slowly turning around to turn his back towards her.

It felt like her heart stopped beating. She held her breath as she looked at the scars on Red’s back. One hand clasped in front of her mouth, in shock at the sight before her.

He’d been there that night and he’d gotten hurt. She reached out one hand and carefully touched his right shoulder with her fingertips. Red didn’t move at all which told her he didn’t even feel her touch. She moved her fingers down and touched a spot that looked less scarred and this time he flinched.  
“Red? Why didn’t you tell me? And what happened to you? Why are you so badly scarred?” Liz asked, tears forming in her eyes.

Red turned around to face Liz. His expression sad as he wiped a tear from Liz’s cheek with his thumb. He slowly shook his head.

“Please, Liz, don’t cry” he tilted his head and gave her a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “It happened, it’s in the past”

Liz looked at him, tears still falling. Red wiped away another tear, “It’s okay. I’m okay”

“But your back…. you must’ve been in so much pain” she sobbed.

“Yes. But it was worth it”

“What was worth it?” Liz frowned.

“Saving your life”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was quite upset after watching last night's episode, but I'm still confident that Red isn't Liz's dad. So I'm still a Lizzington shipper!

Liz was dumbstruck by Red’s words and just stared at him. She was speechless for a moment, trying to register exactly what it meant.

“So you…. you’re the one who saved me that night” 

Red nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure what to say at this point.

The tears that had been pooling in Liz’s eyes now fell and it only took seconds before the tears were streaming down her face.

“Why didn’t you…. tell me?” she asked between sobs. 

Red just wanted to scoop her in his arms to comfort her but wasn’t sure that it was the best idea right now. So instead he grabbed both her upper arms and started stroking them with his thumbs. 

“Shhh, please don’t cry, Lizzie. It’s okay now”

Liz’s face was screwed up from crying and through her tears she saw a desperate Red looking at her. He clearly didn’t know what to do at this point, so Liz decided to do what she’d wanted to for a long time. She took a step closer and wrapped her arms around Red’s neck, sobbing against his bare shoulder.

After only a second of hesitation, she felt Red’s arms come around her and felt him pressing her closer to his body. Even though they’d hugged before, this embrace was by far the closest and most emotional one to date.

Red could feel the hot tears falling from Liz’s chin onto his shoulder and rolling down to his chest. He closed his eyes and started stroking Liz’s hair. He felt bad about causing Liz to cry but was relieved that she finally knew and he didn’t have to hide it from her any longer.

They stood there like that, in a warm embrace, for minutes until Red felt and heard that Liz had calmed down a little.

“Listen, the reason I didn’t tell you was because it didn’t matter. What was important was that you got out of that house safely. It didn’t matter who got you out of there or how”, he said, taking a small step back so he could look at her face.

“But all this time…. “ Liz swallowed hard, “You were the one that saved me and I didn’t know”

Red took both of Liz’s hands in his and brought them to his lips, “That’s okay, Lizzie. Yes, I saved you that night, but like I said, it was a long time ago” he kissed her fingers softly before giving her a sweet smile.

Liz looked at him, the man that she loved so dearly. All this time she’d been having these feelings but she was afraid to come clean. Now they both knew how they felt and it was such a relief. Taking in his beautiful smile, a thought came to her. She grabbed one of his shoulders and tugged on it, telling Red to turn around. She needed to see the scars one more time.

Red furrowed his brow but obliged and slowly turned his back to her again.  
Liz let her fingers run over his back slowly and she felt another lump form in her throat. She swallowed hard and told herself not to cry again. Her eyes felt a bit puffy already and she knew that Red felt helpless when he saw her in tears.

She traced patterns over his back with her fingertips and felt Red’s breath hitch slightly.

She leaned forward and replaced one of her hands with her mouth, placing a soft kiss on his right shoulder blade. The scarring there was quite thick and she realized that Red must not have felt it, seeing that he didn’t react. She went a bit to the left, kissing him more on his neck than on his back this time as there was no scarring there. 

As she’d expected, Red took in a sharp breath and held it. He wanted to turn but Liz had put her hands on his shoulders to keep him from doing exactly that.

She started peppering his back with kisses, from one shoulder to the other and then a path down until she reached the waistband of his pants. 

Red stood still the entire time. He couldn’t believe it when he had felt her lips on his neck and he had wanted to turn around to make her stop. But she had stopped him from doing so, before starting to kiss his entire back. He hated it at first, because he hated his scars but the longer it took, the more he started to enjoy it, especially the parts where he could clearly feel her lips. At some point he had closed his eyes and decided to just let it happen.

He had been pleasantly surprised by Liz’s reaction to this all. His fear had been that she would walk away from him, not wanting anything to do with him anymore. Her breaking down was something he had expected but her kissing him, definitely not.

Liz had stopped as soon as she had reached his waistband. She walked past Red and sat down on the couch where she patted with her hand next to her as to indicate that Red should take a seat.

He sat down next to Liz and felt the cool cushion of the couch against his bare back and shuddered involuntarily. 

Liz noticed and took his hand closest to her in hers and stroked the back of it. “Thank you. For everything” she said, before leaning in and kissing him gently on his right cheek.

Red stilled. “You’re welcome, sweetheart” he said before turning his head to face her. She hadn’t sat back yet so they were now so close that their noses were almost touching.

“And I truly am sorry for everything I have put you through. I was selfish and I have been stubborn. I think the reason why I have been so distant and cold to you over the years was because I didn’t want to admit my feelings for you” Liz said while looking down at her hands that were still clasping one of Red’s. She was afraid to look into his eyes because she couldn’t handle seeing the pain in them anymore.

Red softened at hearing Liz’s words and moved his free hand to lift Liz’s chin to make her look at him. He felt that it was his turn to take the next step and could only hope that Liz was okay with it.

“I know why you did what you did, it just wasn’t a smart thing to do. But I guess you found that out the hard way” he whispered, his lips almost touching hers.

“I was very hurt and felt betrayed by the people I love most” he continued, “I still am in pain but I guess it will just take some time to get over it”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Liz said, looking at Red’s lips before looking back at him.

Red took this as a sign and slowly nodded before leaning in and softly pressing his lips against Liz’s. He held it for long moments before moving away slightly, giving Liz the chance to either continue or stop.

Liz opened her eyes for a moment so she could look at Red. He had a hopeful smile on his face and Liz smiled back before leaning in and kissing back. This kiss had more pressure and want to it.

Red took her head between his hands and tilted his own head to get a better angle. He licked Liz’s upper lip and she granted him access immediately and their tongues found each other. They both seemed to fight for control and as the kiss started to deepen and quicken, Liz placed her hands on Red’s bare chest.

She started running her fingers through his chest hair and heard a low moan escape Red. The sound of it went straight to Liz’s core. Red’s fingers went from her face to her head and were now tangled in her hair. After what seemed like forever they broke the kiss, both gasping for air.

They rested their foreheads against each other and waited until they were both breathing normally again. 

“Lizzie….” Red started but Liz was quick with putting a finger against his lips, “Shhh, don’t” she said, knowing that by giving him just one second to think, it could be enough to make him stop this immediately.

Liz pushed Red with his back against the couch and straddled him before he could do anything.

She started stroking his hair, that was oh so soft, down his sideburns, over his lips and rested her hands on his shoulders, leaning in closer.

“Listen, we should take this slow but I don’t want you to question whether this is something I really want or not. Because I do, Red. I love you and I want to be with you”, she said, looking at him intently, wanting him to see that she meant every word she said.

She kissed him again to emphasize her words. God, those lips of his. She only wished she’d gotten to those sooner. Much sooner. She deepened the kiss and felt Red’s hands roaming her back. She imagined those hands on other parts of her body and groaned into his mouth.

Red couldn’t believe this was happening. Not in a million years would he have thought that Dembe locking them in here would have these results. He revelled in the taste of Lizzie’s mouth and her lips against his was something he had only dreamt of and even then it hadn’t been as good as it was now.

He broke the kiss and took Liz in his arms, cradling her against his body. Liz rested her head on his shoulder and Red started rocking back and forth. Liz could feel Red’s erection against her thigh but didn’t react to it. Now was not the time or place. But she sure as hell was beaming with pride that she had such an effect on Reddington.

She got up from the couch and took Red’s hand and pulled him up as well. They hugged one final time before Red put his clothes back on and they walked towards the door hand in hand. Who would’ve thought this would happen when only two hours ago they couldn’t even so much as look at each other, Liz thought with a big smile on her face. She looked at Red and he had a similar look on his face.

“We should talk about what to get Dembe” Red chuckled, happy that his brother had done this.

Red pounded on the door with his fist, “Dembe, open up please”

It took a moment before they heard him come closer and respond “Why? Are you done talking?” 

“Yes, we are” Liz answered, giving Red a quick kiss on his lips. Now that they had kissed, she had a hard time staying away from him.

They smiled at each other as they heard Dembe unlock and open the door.

They both blinked at the sunlight and stepped out of the warehouse. Dembe closed the door behind them and followed them to the car, watching them getting in. He only hoped that they really had had a good talk.  
As he drove off he looked in the rear view mirror. What he saw made him smile. Unlike that morning, Liz was now sitting right next to Red, her head resting on his shoulder and Red was holding her hand in his, softly stroking it.

Dembe now knew that everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to my Beta Jammequin!


End file.
